'Complicity and resistance: Women in Arundhati Roy's The - JPCS
'Complicity and resistance: Women in Arundhati Roy's The - JPCS
'Complicity and resistance: Women in Arundhati Roy's The - JPCS
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Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong><br />
Introduction:<br />
Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
Golam Gaus Al-Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong>augurated a career of activism <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st local <strong>and</strong><br />
global <strong>in</strong>equities <strong>in</strong> India by its Booker prize w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g writer <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy. In this novel<br />
the predicament of Indian women is studied <strong>in</strong> depth along with the plight of dalits<br />
(untouchables), lower class people, racial subalterns vis-à-vis global capitalism <strong>and</strong> neo-<br />
imperialism masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as globalization. Reflect<strong>in</strong>g the sentiments of Ranajit Guha of<br />
the Subaltern Studies group fame, Roy sees the <strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st gender oppression to be<br />
lead<strong>in</strong>g towards if not <strong>in</strong>stigat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st caste, class oppression <strong>and</strong> spurr<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on anti-colonial thought <strong>and</strong> action i . Such variants of resistant rebellion are articulated<br />
through the exam<strong>in</strong>ation of the marital <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>ter-gender relations of Ammu, Mammachi,<br />
Baby Kochamma <strong>and</strong> Rahel. Transgressions of these characters, openly subversive or<br />
outside the boundaries of the <strong>in</strong>stitution of marriage as practiced <strong>in</strong> post-colonial India,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the “Love laws” that predate Western colonialism lead to a scath<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terrogation of<br />
the basic values <strong>and</strong> structures of the post-colonial Indian society. Thus Roy shows a way<br />
for the Indian women for resist<strong>in</strong>g local as well as global <strong>in</strong>equities.<br />
Ammu is the most important female character <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs. A middle<br />
class bourgeois woman, she is a divorcee with two children, Eshta <strong>and</strong> Rahel. Educated<br />
<strong>and</strong> articulate, Ammu is not welcome on her return to her father‟s house. A k<strong>in</strong>d of an<br />
elite leftist, her brother Chacko marg<strong>in</strong>alizes her. She is also cornered by the family<br />
structure <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>heritance laws customarily prevalent among the Syrian Christian<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
62
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
community <strong>in</strong> Kerala. Ammu is enamoured of the untouchable labourer Velutha <strong>and</strong><br />
violates the “Love Laws” which her community has <strong>in</strong>herited from, among other th<strong>in</strong>gs,<br />
their H<strong>in</strong>du past. Her transgression of the caste, class <strong>and</strong> religious boundaries mounts a<br />
rebellion of a k<strong>in</strong>d aga<strong>in</strong>st her marg<strong>in</strong>alization as a woman. Aijaz Ahmad calls her “a<br />
woman of great grit” (Prasad, 2006, p. 39) <strong>and</strong> Murari Prasad comments thus about her<br />
attempt at self-realization which is not unconnected with the fate of other subalterns:<br />
“Ammu‟s rebellion aga<strong>in</strong>st maternal <strong>and</strong> marital conventionality, <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ally, her liaison<br />
with dark-sk<strong>in</strong>ned <strong>and</strong> untouchable Velutha (ironically mean<strong>in</strong>g white) constitutes a<br />
violation aga<strong>in</strong>st a determ<strong>in</strong>ate social order, sponsor<strong>in</strong>g the immutable „love laws‟. Her<br />
rebellion or her “quest for self-identity”, as Tirthankar Ch<strong>and</strong>a po<strong>in</strong>ts out is “an attempt<br />
at repossess<strong>in</strong>g, renam<strong>in</strong>g, reknow<strong>in</strong>g the world”, but it “appears doomed from the very<br />
beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g because of the nature of the society where she has had to seek refuge with her<br />
tw<strong>in</strong>s after her divorce <strong>and</strong> also because of the <strong>in</strong>capacity of her k<strong>in</strong> (mother, great-aunt<br />
Kochamma) to provide an adequate model for redef<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the Self” (Ch<strong>and</strong>a 1997:40)”<br />
(2006, p.16) Ammu is a victim of a marriage that does not work out. Her be<strong>in</strong>g treated as<br />
an outcast <strong>in</strong> her own family clearly def<strong>in</strong>es her position <strong>in</strong> the society.<br />
But she rebels aga<strong>in</strong>st such social structures <strong>and</strong> challenges marriage that rather seems to<br />
be a discipl<strong>in</strong>ary <strong>in</strong>stitution, as Michel Foucault would have called it, work<strong>in</strong>g towards<br />
silenc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> controll<strong>in</strong>g the one who st<strong>and</strong>s apart, as if a lunatic/non-conformist who<br />
needs to be imprisoned/reasoned. Foucault discussed how asylums were be<strong>in</strong>g put up, <strong>in</strong><br />
the pretext to serve medical knowledge, to isolate <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>carcerate dissidents <strong>in</strong> 17 th<br />
century Europe—a time that saw the rise of the cont<strong>in</strong>ents imperial ambitions. “<strong>The</strong>y did<br />
not <strong>in</strong>troduce science, but a personality, whose powers borrowed from science only their<br />
disguise, or at most their justification. <strong>The</strong>se powers, by their nature, were of a moral <strong>and</strong><br />
social order; they took root <strong>in</strong> the madman‟s m<strong>in</strong>ority status, <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>sanity of his person,<br />
not of his m<strong>in</strong>d” (Rab<strong>in</strong>ow, 1991, p.160). Ammu, a personality, has to be locked up too.<br />
She, afterwards, dies exiled. But before her acceptance of such fate, <strong>in</strong> desperate attempts<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
63
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
of self-realization, she becomes a symbolic personification of all subalterns, especially<br />
women, who challenge power structures of the social order as is also po<strong>in</strong>ted out by<br />
Murari Prasad: “At the heart of Roy‟s astound<strong>in</strong>g book is the conflict between the<br />
characters excluded from <strong>in</strong>stitutional power <strong>and</strong> their hegemonic counterparts…Bose<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ts out that Ammu‟s conscious decision to embrace Velutha is a forbidden cross-caste<br />
liaison of radical significance with<strong>in</strong> the novel‟s given social imperatives… Bose l<strong>in</strong>ks<br />
these violations to Roy‟s robust commitment to the autonomy of the self-the freedom of<br />
small th<strong>in</strong>gs. Thus the fem<strong>in</strong>ist reconceptualization of politics <strong>in</strong> Roy‟s novel, as Bose<br />
notes, is profoundly subversive.”(2006, p.21)<br />
Ammu‟s roles as a divorced woman, a s<strong>in</strong>gle mother <strong>and</strong> as an educated woman denied<br />
of her rights of <strong>in</strong>heritance [“She, as a daughter, has no claim to any property, no locus<br />
st<strong>and</strong>i..”(Navarro-Tejero,2006,p. 104)], as a sexually sentient be<strong>in</strong>g who is deprived by<br />
the pre-colonial “Love laws” the freedom to choose her partner <strong>and</strong> is penalized for it,<br />
st<strong>and</strong>s on different issues side by side with other subalterns, whether of caste, class or<br />
gender. She is emblematic of them all <strong>in</strong> the schema of th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy creates ,<br />
more than Velutha , who is the protagonist or may be the “God” of <strong>The</strong> God of Small<br />
Th<strong>in</strong>gs”(Surendran, 2000, p. 7). Khurshid Alam <strong>in</strong> his article “Untouchables” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God<br />
of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs” situates Ammu vis-à-vis Velutha <strong>and</strong> clarifies the role of Ammu: “Roy<br />
expresses her disillusionment with the social conditions of the postcolonial world <strong>in</strong><br />
which the untouchables of the past still face a hostile society that does not let them live as<br />
free <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dependent <strong>in</strong>dividuals. Velutha, the God of small th<strong>in</strong>gs, the outcast can never<br />
co-exist peacefully with the “touchable” communities for as long as the stigma of<br />
untouchability is attached to him <strong>and</strong> countless others like him. Ammu, another<br />
“untouchable” with<strong>in</strong> the “touchable” cannot pursue happ<strong>in</strong>ess because do<strong>in</strong>g so<br />
threatens the exist<strong>in</strong>g order, <strong>and</strong> the society takes every possible step to stop change.”<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
64
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Ammu, crav<strong>in</strong>g to take control of her life that is so much suppressed by a social order, is<br />
faced aga<strong>in</strong>st a system where her “Marxist” brother Chacko exploits the poor women<br />
labourers <strong>in</strong> his factory, both f<strong>in</strong>ancially <strong>and</strong> sexually, <strong>and</strong> goes unchecked. She sees<br />
characters like Mammachi, be<strong>in</strong>g appropriated by patriarchy <strong>and</strong> be asphyxiated <strong>and</strong><br />
distorted by it. She sees Velutha be<strong>in</strong>g accused of the accidental drown<strong>in</strong>g of Sophie Mol.<br />
Ammu‟s father is <strong>in</strong>credulous of the fact that her Bengali H<strong>in</strong>du husb<strong>and</strong> wanted to<br />
prostitute her <strong>in</strong> order to please his white boss. <strong>The</strong> colonial rulers‟ authority is<br />
challenged by a subaltern woman <strong>in</strong> the novel who is economically <strong>and</strong> socially<br />
marg<strong>in</strong>alized. Smothered by social <strong>in</strong>justice, Ammu rebels aga<strong>in</strong>st the very social norms<br />
that constitute the Syrian Christian community <strong>in</strong> Kerala. This rebellion is an act of<br />
<strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st the very foundations of this society. Her most significant act of<br />
becom<strong>in</strong>g sexually <strong>in</strong>volved with the “Untouchable”, lower class Velutha, cannot be<br />
taken at its face value as an act of sexual transgression only.<br />
This is an act of <strong>resistance</strong> aimed at br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g about change <strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> around her. That is why<br />
she goes to the police station <strong>and</strong> argues aga<strong>in</strong>st the detention of this lower caste, lower<br />
class subaltern, deny<strong>in</strong>g supposed “womanly” qualities typical of an Indian woman. This<br />
prefigures Roy‟s proffered post-colonial Indian woman, who has rega<strong>in</strong>ed her right to be<br />
an “Indian woman”, with the end of colonialism. Amitabh Roy‟s words thus do have<br />
strong evidential basis: “Ammu, on the other h<strong>and</strong>, is the rebel who represents the<br />
defiance of the present [neo-colonial] state of society from educated[though marg<strong>in</strong>alized<br />
<strong>and</strong> proleterianized], passionate <strong>and</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g women. She st<strong>and</strong>s for those women who<br />
are aspir<strong>in</strong>g for freedom <strong>and</strong> equality. This section of women is challeng<strong>in</strong>g traditional<br />
[pre-colonial] ideas <strong>and</strong> conventions. <strong>The</strong> hopes for the [post-colonial] future lie with this<br />
section only.”(2005, p.77-78) In short Ammu as a subaltern/woman resists oppressive<br />
<strong>and</strong> repressive social <strong>and</strong> political structures. She does not succeed <strong>in</strong> br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g about any<br />
tangible change but puts up a brave fight for realiz<strong>in</strong>g her dreams. Although she may not<br />
consciously have worked for other subalterns, her actions contribute to the emancipation<br />
of different k<strong>in</strong>ds of subalterns <strong>and</strong> there lies her exceptionality.<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
65
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
<strong>The</strong> second most important female character is Mammachi who puts up a k<strong>in</strong>d of<br />
<strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st patriarchal oppression <strong>and</strong> marg<strong>in</strong>aliz<strong>in</strong>g apparatuses. Mother of<br />
Ammu <strong>and</strong> Chacko, Mammachi is also a physically <strong>and</strong> psychologically abused wife<br />
alike so many women <strong>in</strong> different societies who undergo torture <strong>and</strong> trauma <strong>and</strong> never<br />
speak out. Roy situates Mammachi <strong>in</strong> a strategically significant position between the<br />
caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender-subalterns <strong>and</strong> the feudal-capitalist patriarchal social structures<br />
that are <strong>in</strong>flicted with age-old complexities. She is not only a passive victim but is also<br />
the target of the jealousy of her entomologist husb<strong>and</strong>. Amitabh Roy expla<strong>in</strong>s this issue.<br />
As Mammachi‟s music teacher Launsky Tieffenthal makes the mistake of <strong>in</strong>form<strong>in</strong>g her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> that Mammachi was “exceptionally talented” <strong>and</strong> “potentially concert class” her<br />
music lessons stop abruptly. (Roy, 2005, p.67) Mammachi is also denied help from her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong>, the supreme patriarch <strong>in</strong> the family, although she is practically bl<strong>in</strong>d. <strong>The</strong> work<br />
at the pickle factory is not “a suitable job for a high-rank<strong>in</strong>g ex-Government official”.<br />
(Roy, 2005, p.67) She does not acquiesce <strong>in</strong> these acts of <strong>in</strong>solent marg<strong>in</strong>alization <strong>and</strong><br />
rema<strong>in</strong>s till the end of the novel a steadfast character even assimilat<strong>in</strong>g many of the<br />
features of an Indian patriarch. B<strong>in</strong>ayak Roy <strong>in</strong> his article “<strong>The</strong> Title of <strong>The</strong> God of Small<br />
Th<strong>in</strong>gs: A Subversive Salvo” comments on her thus: “Mammachi is another Big Woman<br />
who deifies her son Chacko <strong>and</strong> despises her daughter Ammu. When Chacko stops<br />
Pappachi‟s beat<strong>in</strong>g of Mammachi, his action has unexpected consequences: “From then<br />
onwards he became the repository of all [Mammachi‟s ] womanly feel<strong>in</strong>gs. Her Man. Her<br />
only Love” (168) In the presence of Chacko‟s British wife Margaret, Ammu perceives<br />
with womanly <strong>in</strong>st<strong>in</strong>ct “the undercurrent of sexual jealousy that emanated from<br />
Mammachi” (329)” (2009)<br />
Mammachi‟s strategy of utiliz<strong>in</strong>g patriarchal authority herself does not help her <strong>in</strong> the<br />
end <strong>in</strong> deal<strong>in</strong>g with her son Chacko. He takes away the pickle-factory from her; as if as a<br />
k<strong>in</strong>d of a consequential sequel to his sav<strong>in</strong>g Mammachi from her husb<strong>and</strong>‟s beat<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
Chacko replaces her <strong>and</strong> reclaims the role of the patriarch as it belongs only to the men <strong>in</strong><br />
the family. Mammachi is made a sleep<strong>in</strong>g partner. Chacko becomes a bus<strong>in</strong>essman, the<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
66
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
“Marxist” owner of the pickle factory—a capitalist enterprise. Amitabh Roy comments:<br />
“Thus, despite his professed Marxism, Chacko follows Manu <strong>and</strong> the tradition <strong>in</strong><br />
assert<strong>in</strong>g the son‟s dom<strong>in</strong>ation over mother <strong>in</strong> old age. Mammachi submits to it as such<br />
ideas are so familiar to her.”(2005, p.67) Mammchi becomes an <strong>in</strong>strument of patriarchal<br />
dom<strong>in</strong>ation despite be<strong>in</strong>g a victim herself. As a post-colonial Indian woman she<br />
succumbs to the lures of pre-colonial caste rules <strong>and</strong> “Love laws” <strong>and</strong> at the same time<br />
tries to be <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>terrogative mode regard<strong>in</strong>g both the colonial past as well as the neo-<br />
colonial present <strong>in</strong> her <strong>in</strong>teractions with her daughter Ammu.<br />
In India, even today, evils of caste <strong>and</strong> class <strong>and</strong> patriarchal oppressions feed <strong>and</strong> depend<br />
on each other. Mammachi‟s daughter Ammu resists patriarchy <strong>and</strong> caste <strong>and</strong> class bigotry<br />
<strong>in</strong> public <strong>and</strong> pays with her life. Obviously, the web of neo-imperialism masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as<br />
globalization supports such social structures <strong>in</strong> place. Chacko‟s British wife is the<br />
colonial apparition who although allowed little space <strong>in</strong> the novels, contributes,<br />
co<strong>in</strong>cidental as it may seem, to the demise of Velutha. Her half-Indian-half-British<br />
daughter drowns, releas<strong>in</strong>g Chacko of all fatherly responsibilities. Although both her<br />
children are divorcees, Mammachi does not resist her tyrannical <strong>and</strong> manipulative son.<br />
She concedes to his “Men‟s Needs” as Chacko‟s flirts with “pretty women who worked<br />
<strong>in</strong> the factory” (Roy, 2005, p. 57). Mammachi does not condone the mutually consensual<br />
relation between Ammu <strong>and</strong> Velutha. Her caste <strong>and</strong> class bias, though not openly<br />
expressed, plays a part. Mammachi‟s compla<strong>in</strong>t aga<strong>in</strong>st Velutha assists his murder <strong>in</strong> the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s of the police, a colonial <strong>in</strong>stitution that plays the role of the state rouge. Velutha<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g the son of nature, be<strong>in</strong>g the subaltern meets death <strong>and</strong> becomes the god of small<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
But Mammachi‟s family faces disaster. <strong>The</strong> marriages do not work. Wedlocks,<br />
relationships with the Westerners never work out <strong>and</strong> probably understatedly show the<br />
novelists scepticism about <strong>and</strong> around marriages with the people from the West. But what<br />
about values that are imported: uncritically speak<strong>in</strong>g, Chacko‟s be<strong>in</strong>g the small world<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
67
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Casanova <strong>and</strong> Rahel‟s desire for her brother apparently seem Western borrow<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
However, spr<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the fertile nature of Ayemenem, these are local crav<strong>in</strong>gs that haunt<br />
a discipl<strong>in</strong>ary society which only costs human happ<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>and</strong> penalizes <strong>in</strong> return. Ammu<br />
<strong>and</strong> Velutha (both subalterns <strong>in</strong> terms of class, caste, gender <strong>and</strong> social positions) are<br />
probably the only heroes/rebels/unconscious resistant activists that challenge such<br />
systems <strong>and</strong> accept death.<br />
Ammus mother Mammachi, however, is not totally complicit <strong>in</strong> social <strong>in</strong>justice. She<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ues to hold on to her dom<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g role falsify<strong>in</strong>g the idea that women should only<br />
obey orders. As a post-colonial Indian woman she is riven by the pulls of pre-colonial<br />
tradition, the desire for freedom <strong>and</strong> equality born at least partially as a result of India‟s<br />
encounter with the West <strong>and</strong> the neo-colonial present which connects the local<br />
<strong>in</strong>equalities of caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender with the global ones of an unequal <strong>and</strong> grossly<br />
unjust economic <strong>and</strong> political order epitomized on a micro-scale by a character like<br />
Chacko. Although, Mammachi succumbs to the pulls of these forces we reta<strong>in</strong> sympathy<br />
for her for the depredations she had to suffer <strong>in</strong> life <strong>and</strong> the “resilience” of her character.<br />
O. P. Dwivedi <strong>in</strong> his article titled “<strong>The</strong> Subaltern <strong>and</strong> the Text: Read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy‟s<br />
<strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs”, utilizes the concept of “the subaltern” by go<strong>in</strong>g back to<br />
Ranajit Guha: “In the Preface to Subaltern Studies, Vol.1, Ranajit Guha propounded a<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g def<strong>in</strong>ition of “subaltern”. “<strong>The</strong> word “subaltern”… st<strong>and</strong>s for the mean<strong>in</strong>g as<br />
given <strong>in</strong> the Concise Oxford Dictionary, that, is of <strong>in</strong>ferior rank. It will be used as a<br />
name for the general attitude of subord<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>in</strong> South Asian Society whether this is<br />
expressed <strong>in</strong> terms of class, caste, age, gender <strong>and</strong> office or <strong>in</strong> any other way.”…” (2010)<br />
<strong>The</strong> question that arises <strong>in</strong> consider<strong>in</strong>g the case of Mammachi is whether she is a<br />
subaltern <strong>in</strong> sympathy with other subalterns <strong>in</strong> the novel? In los<strong>in</strong>g her factory to her son,<br />
Mammachi is marg<strong>in</strong>alized <strong>in</strong> terms of class <strong>and</strong> gender. A descendant of upper class<br />
Brahm<strong>in</strong>s, she, however, is not a victim of caste prejudice. Marg<strong>in</strong>alized by her son <strong>in</strong> old<br />
age <strong>and</strong> fac<strong>in</strong>g an economically disadvantaged position, Mammachi is a subaltern <strong>in</strong><br />
more than one way.<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Her acquiescence <strong>in</strong> many patriarchal mores <strong>and</strong> values are a defensive gesture rather<br />
than an honest agreement with hegemonic powers. As <strong>resistance</strong> can be passive or active,<br />
public or subterranean, unequivocal or ambivalent, she should be allowed the status of<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the circle of <strong>resistance</strong>. <strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g words of Anuradha D<strong>in</strong>gwaney Needham<br />
r<strong>in</strong>gs true to us <strong>in</strong> the case of both Mammachi <strong>and</strong> Baby Kochamma: “In Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,<br />
then, Roy does not present subord<strong>in</strong>ation as a stable, unproblematic condition from which<br />
<strong>resistance</strong>, necessarily, proceeds. Instead, <strong>in</strong> mapp<strong>in</strong>g vary<strong>in</strong>g degrees of rebellion <strong>and</strong><br />
defiance aga<strong>in</strong>st, <strong>and</strong> collusion with the dom<strong>in</strong>ant, she seems to be on the side of those<br />
critics of subaltern studies, who compla<strong>in</strong> that because „subaltern mentalit‟e‟ is<br />
recuperated as „the mentalit‟e of the subaltern at the time of opposition, at the moment of<br />
their action aga<strong>in</strong>st dom<strong>in</strong>ation‟ (Masselos 2001:192), the „dialectics of collaboration <strong>and</strong><br />
acquiescence on the part of the subalterns <strong>and</strong> the wide range of attitudes between<br />
resignation <strong>and</strong> revolt have been underplayed‟ <strong>in</strong> this mode of historiography (Das Gupta<br />
2001:110)”. (2005)<br />
Baby Kochamma is the daughter of Reverend John Ipe <strong>and</strong> is <strong>in</strong> love with the Roman<br />
Catholic priest, Father Mulligan. To w<strong>in</strong> over him Baby Kochamma converts to the<br />
Roman Catholic faith. However, she does not dare to challenge the traditional ideas of<br />
love <strong>and</strong> marriage prevalent <strong>in</strong> post-colonial India. Baby Kochamma does not run away<br />
to fulfil her dreams <strong>and</strong> upholds very reactionary ideas. Amitabh Roy comments<br />
succ<strong>in</strong>ctly: “It is a pity that she submits <strong>in</strong> the name of decency <strong>and</strong> honour to the very<br />
sexist, casteist <strong>and</strong> communal prejudices that have stood <strong>in</strong> her way <strong>and</strong> denied fulfilment<br />
to her.”(2005, p.62) She hates the H<strong>in</strong>dus, does not th<strong>in</strong>k that a married or divorced<br />
daughter has any position <strong>in</strong> her parent‟s home <strong>and</strong> is vehemently aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>ter-<br />
community marriage. In the case of Ammu, she th<strong>in</strong>ks that sexual promiscuity can only<br />
be allowed to a man like Chacko as he has his “Men‟s Needs”. Baby Kochamma is a<br />
hypocrite to a great extent but is she totally complicit <strong>in</strong> the patriarchal, casteist, classist,<br />
<strong>and</strong> sexist social order of Kerala? Is her desire for Father Mulligan, “an elitist<br />
<strong>in</strong>dulgence”?<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
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Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Br<strong>in</strong>da Bose <strong>in</strong> her article titled, “Eroticism as Politics <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs” deals<br />
with the transgressive love of Ammu for Velutha <strong>and</strong> comments that “sociological studies<br />
have repeatedly proven that the idea that love <strong>and</strong> desire are elitist <strong>in</strong>dulgences is a<br />
myth”(2006,p. 97). While it is true that Baby Kochamma does not emblematize any k<strong>in</strong>d<br />
of rebellion aga<strong>in</strong>st the social order, her love for Father Mulligan does lead to def<strong>in</strong>ite<br />
changes <strong>in</strong> her life, many of which are subversive of the established social order. For<br />
example, despite her verbal <strong>and</strong> actual conformity she transgresses the borders of<br />
religion, community <strong>and</strong> caste. Her conversion to Roman Catholicism is not just a change<br />
of denom<strong>in</strong>ation but implies a rejection of her own history, the history of Syrian<br />
Christians. Her life chang<strong>in</strong>g admiration <strong>and</strong> love for Father Mulligan, cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g even<br />
after his death, implies a subversion of the “Love laws” com<strong>in</strong>g down from pre-colonial<br />
times which prescribed marriage, <strong>and</strong> only marriage, for women. In this case we have to<br />
remember that celibacy for women was not an option for the Syrian Christian<br />
community, <strong>in</strong> contradist<strong>in</strong>ction to the Roman Catholic community whose arrival <strong>in</strong> India<br />
was connected with the Western colonial endeavour <strong>in</strong> South Asia. <strong>The</strong>se actions of Baby<br />
Kochamma, to a certa<strong>in</strong> extent speak of a k<strong>in</strong>d of ambivalent <strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st patriarchy<br />
<strong>and</strong> other <strong>in</strong>digenous repressive <strong>and</strong> oppressive social structures still <strong>in</strong>tact <strong>in</strong> the post-<br />
colonial India of not so long ago.<br />
Mammachi <strong>and</strong> Baby Kochamma apparently seem to submit without any hesitation to<br />
patriarchal social norms as po<strong>in</strong>ted out by Antonio Navarro-Tejero <strong>in</strong> her article titled,<br />
“Power Relationships <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs”: “<strong>The</strong> first generation of women <strong>in</strong><br />
the novel give extreme importance to patriarchal social norms, <strong>in</strong>deed they succumb to<br />
them….” (2006, p. 105). But if we probe beneath the surface <strong>and</strong> consider the actions of<br />
characters like Mammachi <strong>and</strong> Baby Kochamma <strong>in</strong> t<strong>and</strong>em with our knowledge that<br />
power is diffused <strong>and</strong> “wherever there is power there is <strong>resistance</strong>” a la’ Foucault we see<br />
that even woman characters like Mammachi <strong>and</strong> Baby Kochamma put up a k<strong>in</strong>d of<br />
<strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st the <strong>in</strong>iquitous socio-political <strong>and</strong> economic order <strong>in</strong> post-colonial India.<br />
Baby Kochamma, complicit <strong>in</strong> the patriarchal, casteist, classist, sexist society of Kerala,<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
manages her relationships with different characters <strong>in</strong> an apparently ambivalent k<strong>in</strong>d of<br />
way.<br />
Baby Kochamma does not overtly believe <strong>in</strong> the rights of women as well as subalterns<br />
<strong>and</strong> makes a dist<strong>in</strong>ction between her self-<strong>in</strong>terest <strong>and</strong> those of other women. In stark<br />
contradiction to her personal subversion <strong>and</strong> transgression of patriarchy <strong>and</strong> oppressive<br />
structures, Baby Kochamma concurs <strong>in</strong> the repressive actions aga<strong>in</strong>st Ammu. She is<br />
responsible for: poison<strong>in</strong>g the m<strong>in</strong>ds of Mammachi <strong>and</strong> Chacko, concoction of a false<br />
case aga<strong>in</strong>st Velutha, trick<strong>in</strong>g the children <strong>in</strong>to betray<strong>in</strong>g Velutha, advis<strong>in</strong>g Chacko to<br />
return Estha to his father <strong>and</strong> forc<strong>in</strong>g Ammu to leave. Baby Kochamma hates Estha <strong>and</strong><br />
Rahel as they are half-H<strong>in</strong>dus born of a love marriage outside community. She hates<br />
Velutha because he is dalit. He, along with Ammu, violates the “Love laws” too. All<br />
these conniv<strong>in</strong>gs isolate Baby Kochamma to a pathetic life where TV (used as the most<br />
successful mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the spread of globalization) is her only companion. As a subaltern,<br />
she can be said to be of the lower middle class, <strong>in</strong> terms of her power <strong>and</strong> has unstable<br />
class loyalty. Her actions of personal dissidence like ab<strong>and</strong>on<strong>in</strong>g the Syrian Christian<br />
community <strong>and</strong> jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the Roman Catholic community, for her love of Father Mulligan,<br />
<strong>and</strong> stick<strong>in</strong>g with that faith even after Father Mulligan‟s newly appropriated avatar of a<br />
H<strong>in</strong>du Sadhu as well as her adoption of celibacy, speak of her <strong>in</strong>terrogation of the post-<br />
colonial Indian social order as manifested <strong>in</strong> Kerala. Though, she is not an active resistant<br />
force aga<strong>in</strong>st local <strong>and</strong> let alone global <strong>in</strong>equities , her actions do make her a k<strong>in</strong>d of<br />
agent of change <strong>in</strong> the novel, who through not fully acquiesc<strong>in</strong>g to the exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>iquitous<br />
social, political <strong>and</strong> economic order also resists . This is so, especially if we remember<br />
the fem<strong>in</strong>ist dicta: “<strong>The</strong> personal is political”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> zygotic tw<strong>in</strong>s Estha <strong>and</strong> Rahel are subalterns <strong>in</strong> the sense of be<strong>in</strong>g rootless<br />
economically, f<strong>in</strong>ancially, <strong>in</strong> terms of family, l<strong>in</strong>eage <strong>and</strong> culture. Be<strong>in</strong>g deprived of a<br />
“normal” nuclear family, fatherly love <strong>and</strong> a stable economic base, these two children<br />
have to fall back upon each other most of the time. Amitabh Roy is right when he writes:<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
“<strong>The</strong> novel can be viewed as a tale of “terror” that destroyed the lives of Velutha <strong>and</strong><br />
Ammu, but also as a tale of how Estha <strong>and</strong> Rahel survived.”(2005, p. 90). Estha <strong>and</strong><br />
Rahel do not come from poor background. <strong>The</strong>y had a bourgeois background. But when<br />
their parents get divorced, they are subjected to adversity. <strong>The</strong>y, along with their mother<br />
were unwanted <strong>in</strong> their gr<strong>and</strong>mother‟s place. Despite this, they do acquire a good<br />
education. <strong>The</strong>y have a battered childhood, because of their father‟s “drunken violence<br />
followed by post-drunken badger<strong>in</strong>g”, when they were barely two. “When his bouts of<br />
violence began to <strong>in</strong>clude the children, <strong>and</strong> the war with Pakistan began, Ammu left her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> returned, unwelcome to her parents <strong>in</strong> Ayemenem.”(Roy, 1997, p. 42).<strong>The</strong><br />
two children <strong>and</strong> especially Rahel, as a girl, had a double stigma of mixed parentage<br />
attached to them, both “religious (because their father was H<strong>in</strong>du <strong>and</strong> mother Syrian<br />
Christian) <strong>and</strong> ethnic(their father be<strong>in</strong>g a Bengali <strong>and</strong> mother, a Keralite).” (Roy, 1997, p.<br />
91) Moreover, they were the children of divorced parents. Rahel was disliked by Baby<br />
Kochamma, Kochu Maria <strong>and</strong> even Chacko. Deprived of conventional parental love,<br />
Ammu is both father <strong>and</strong> mother to her. She also derives pleasure from the company <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>timacy of her brother. F<strong>in</strong>ally, she considers Velutha, to be a father figure on whose<br />
back she rides.(Roy, 1997,p. 73) Be<strong>in</strong>g disliked by her elderly relatives , she feels<br />
resentment aga<strong>in</strong>st them. When her mother‟s liaison with Velutha is discovered, she is<br />
locked <strong>in</strong> the bedroom. Rahel, along with her tw<strong>in</strong> brother, tries to f<strong>in</strong>d out the reason at<br />
the tender age of seven <strong>and</strong> their mother calls them: “millstones round my neck”. (Roy,<br />
1997, p. 253)<br />
<strong>The</strong> tw<strong>in</strong>s plan to escape <strong>in</strong> a boat, accompanied by their cous<strong>in</strong>, Sophie Mol, who<br />
accidentally drowns. <strong>The</strong> police arrest Velutha <strong>and</strong> Rahel has to go to the police station<br />
with her brother Estha to identify Velutha as a crim<strong>in</strong>al. Ammu is forced to leave the<br />
room <strong>in</strong> which she had locked herself <strong>and</strong> has to leave Ayemenem House <strong>and</strong> dies shortly<br />
afterwards. Estha is sent back to his father <strong>and</strong> the tw<strong>in</strong>s face the trauma of separation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> novelist puts it thus: “While other children of their age learned other th<strong>in</strong>gs, Estha<br />
<strong>and</strong> Rahel learned how history negotiates its terms <strong>and</strong> collects its dues from those who<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
break its laws.” (Roy, 1997, p. 55) Rahel has a hard time <strong>in</strong> school <strong>and</strong> is expelled three<br />
times. <strong>The</strong> first time, she is caught outside her Headmistress‟ garden gate decorat<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
knob of fresh cow dung with small flowers. Later, she is expelled from Nazareth Convent<br />
after repeated compla<strong>in</strong>ts from senior girls. <strong>The</strong> second time, she is expelled from school<br />
for smok<strong>in</strong>g. She is expelled the third time “for sett<strong>in</strong>g fire to her Headmistress‟ false bun<br />
which, under duress, Rahel confessed to have stolen”. (Roy, 1997, 17) Thus, Rahel<br />
refuses to be co-opted by the school as she refused to be co-opted by her<br />
relatives/family/society. Be<strong>in</strong>g, marg<strong>in</strong>alized because of her religion/community, gender,<br />
class <strong>and</strong> age, she fits the category of the subaltern <strong>and</strong> her acts of non-conformity can be<br />
considered as acts of <strong>resistance</strong> through which she wants to br<strong>in</strong>g about some k<strong>in</strong>d of<br />
change. <strong>The</strong> most important act by Rahel is that of consummat<strong>in</strong>g her <strong>in</strong>cestuous love for<br />
her tw<strong>in</strong> brother, Estha, which though an act of personal self-assertion, is also deeply<br />
political, challeng<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous /local <strong>in</strong>equalities <strong>in</strong> post-colonial India.<br />
So, Ammu, Mammachi, Baby Kochamma <strong>and</strong> Rahel, four women <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small<br />
Th<strong>in</strong>gs, <strong>in</strong>terrogate pre-colonial/<strong>in</strong>digenous norms, customs, laws, values <strong>and</strong> structures<br />
connected with patriarchy, class, caste <strong>and</strong> feudal-capitalist economic structures. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
women also <strong>in</strong>terrogate, through all their actions, the “Love laws”. But, <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
enough, these women do not advocate for the forces of global <strong>in</strong>equality masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as<br />
globalization. Ammu refuses to prostitute herself to the white boss of her husb<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Mammachi feels threatened by whatever happens on the television. Baby Kochamma,<br />
though affected by globalization, does not accept every change <strong>in</strong> the identity of Father<br />
Mulligan. She accepts Roman Catholicism for his sake, but does not change over to<br />
H<strong>in</strong>duism, when Father Mulligan, becomes a H<strong>in</strong>du Sadhu, echo<strong>in</strong>g the effects of<br />
movements like the ISKCON or Hare Krishna <strong>in</strong> the West. Rahel on her part awaits the<br />
arrival of her tw<strong>in</strong> brother Estha <strong>and</strong> tries to heal him of his dumbness <strong>and</strong> fractured<br />
existence <strong>and</strong> consummates their childish but <strong>in</strong>cestuous love transgress<strong>in</strong>g along with<br />
the “Love laws”. This act is a total denial of the restrictive permissive sexuality of the<br />
West that ties sexuality with bus<strong>in</strong>ess, transaction <strong>and</strong> money. Thus, Rahel also seems to<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
<strong>in</strong>terrogate the global <strong>in</strong>equalities <strong>and</strong> hegemony masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as global connectivity or<br />
globalization.<br />
In deal<strong>in</strong>g with local <strong>and</strong> global <strong>in</strong>equalities, <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy deals with the actions of<br />
Comrade Pillai <strong>and</strong> Chacko—two card carry<strong>in</strong>g members of the Communist Party. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
are complicit <strong>in</strong> the marg<strong>in</strong>alization of a subaltern like Velutha, who suffers because of<br />
his caste <strong>and</strong> class backgrounds. Comrade Pillai <strong>and</strong> Chacko, people without scruples,<br />
manipulate Velutha. However, when he gets emotionally <strong>and</strong> sexually <strong>in</strong>volved with<br />
Ammu, <strong>in</strong> an act of personal rebellion aga<strong>in</strong>st the restrictions of caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender,<br />
rather than one of personal “aggr<strong>and</strong>izement”, these two characters do not act accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to the declared pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of Communist ideology. Chacko is furious about the loss of<br />
familial “honour” <strong>and</strong> Comrade Pillai refuses to st<strong>and</strong> by Velutha, a fellow comrade.<br />
Chacko does not consider class <strong>and</strong> caste backgrounds while sexually abus<strong>in</strong>g pickle-<br />
factory female labourers. This is significant as those female labourers are subalterns<br />
without position, helplessly available <strong>in</strong> the h<strong>and</strong>s of a man with money. In terms of<br />
resist<strong>in</strong>g global <strong>in</strong>equalities also, these two Communist party cadres, do not have the<br />
ability, s<strong>in</strong>cerity or vision to challenge it through discern<strong>in</strong>g the l<strong>in</strong>ks between local <strong>and</strong><br />
global <strong>in</strong>equalities. Both take advantage of the capitalist systems <strong>in</strong> place <strong>in</strong> Kerala. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
do not empathise with any of the subalterns or women <strong>in</strong> the novel. Chacko attitude<br />
towards Rahel <strong>and</strong> Estha is also negative. Comrade Pillai, represent<strong>in</strong>g other communists<br />
<strong>in</strong> the state, does not advocate mount<strong>in</strong>g a frontal attack aga<strong>in</strong>st the hierarchical caste<br />
system, which is even an anomaly <strong>in</strong> a capitalist society <strong>and</strong> is oblivious to the oppression<br />
of women because of caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender. Ammu <strong>and</strong> the other women are victimized<br />
because of these so called communists. Communism, as represented by Roy, seems to fail<br />
as an adequate ideology <strong>in</strong> resist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>equalities. <strong>The</strong> author does not proffer any<br />
ideology of her own or communism. But O. P. Dwivedi th<strong>in</strong>ks that “<strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy has<br />
(un)consciously also extended the views of this [Subaltern Studies Collective] group by<br />
highlight<strong>in</strong>g the pathetic condition of these subaltern <strong>in</strong> India.”(2010) This leads us to the<br />
f<strong>in</strong>al section of our article deal<strong>in</strong>g with the path of emancipation shown by Roy.<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
<strong>JPCS</strong> Vol 2 No 4, December 2011<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Roy, <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> her numerous non-fictional writ<strong>in</strong>gs as <strong>in</strong>timated <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>terviews <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Shape of the Beast(2009), deals with the fate of the subalterns, both<br />
local <strong>and</strong> global, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g women. Generally considered a k<strong>in</strong>d of a fem<strong>in</strong>ist, the author<br />
does not focus on the question of women severed from other subalterns. Roy‟s treatment<br />
of the issues of women <strong>in</strong> her fiction, aga<strong>in</strong>, is different from her exam<strong>in</strong>ation of the state<br />
of women <strong>in</strong> her non-fictional writ<strong>in</strong>gs. In her novel the women are represented as<br />
subalterns at par with the untouchable Velutha <strong>and</strong> the children Rahel <strong>and</strong> Estha. In her<br />
non-fictional writ<strong>in</strong>gs, Roy deals with specific issues <strong>and</strong> comments sparsely <strong>in</strong> a<br />
theoretical mode about their <strong>in</strong>terrelationship. She seldom makes comments like these:<br />
“Deep at the heart of the horror of what‟s go<strong>in</strong>g on lies the caste system: this layered,<br />
horizontally divided society with no vertical bolts, no glue, no <strong>in</strong>termarriage, no social<br />
m<strong>in</strong>gl<strong>in</strong>g; no human-humane-<strong>in</strong>teraction that holds the layers together.” (2009, p. 6) <strong>The</strong><br />
complexity of texture, allusiveness, Joycean stream of consciousness, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>tertextuality<br />
make the novel a much more articulate though ambiguous document about the subalterns<br />
<strong>in</strong> post-colonial India, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g its women than many of her non-fictional writ<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
But, be<strong>in</strong>g ambiguous, the novel does not provide or show any bluepr<strong>in</strong>t for the women<br />
to be emancipated from the three k<strong>in</strong>ds of oppression of caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender. All<br />
women are also not equally affected by these three k<strong>in</strong>ds of repressive regimes. While we<br />
do agree that there are def<strong>in</strong>ite similarities between the <strong>in</strong>sights of the Subaltern Studies<br />
Project <strong>and</strong> the views of <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy, we have to keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that while the members<br />
of the Subaltern Studies Collective were/are theoretically <strong>in</strong>formed historians,<br />
sociologists, <strong>and</strong> people of similar academic backgrounds; Roy is primarily a writer,<br />
writ<strong>in</strong>g for an <strong>in</strong>choate readership, as well as a committed activist. Needham‟s words<br />
about Ranajit Guha <strong>in</strong> her article, (l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g Guha <strong>and</strong> Roy) towards the end talks of the<br />
utopian desires <strong>in</strong> Guha‟s Small Voice of History <strong>and</strong> Roy‟s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,<br />
<strong>and</strong> comments: “Guha‟s „utopian aspiration‟, <strong>in</strong> other words , is not only to „achieve‟<br />
what Scwarz characterizes as „the impossible ideal of allow<strong>in</strong>g an unmediated subaltern<br />
voice to speak‟ through <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the „textual space‟ (O‟Hanlon‟s words) his work wishes to<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
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ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
make available; his „utopian aspiration‟ is also, as O‟Hanlon observes with considerable<br />
unease, to see this(wished for) work as „coterm<strong>in</strong>ous with the struggles of the<br />
dispossessed, feed<strong>in</strong>g directly unto them by mak<strong>in</strong>g sense of them‟ (O‟Hanlon<br />
2001[1988]:174).”(2005) What Guha aspires for theoretically, Roy does not necessarily<br />
desire empirically all through her novel. Be<strong>in</strong>g speculative, one can envision similar<br />
k<strong>in</strong>ds of desires <strong>in</strong> Roy <strong>and</strong> Guha <strong>and</strong> his group, but to say that Roy endorses the <strong>in</strong>sights<br />
of the Subaltern Studies Project as a k<strong>in</strong>d of ideology of emancipation for women <strong>in</strong> a<br />
postmodern India, is perhaps go<strong>in</strong>g too far.<br />
Roy‟s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs, presents women as subalterns, some of whom try to<br />
br<strong>in</strong>g about change through <strong>resistance</strong>. But as subalterns they do not have the articulate<br />
voice that members of other groups <strong>in</strong> Indian society have. <strong>The</strong>se women mount<br />
<strong>resistance</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st both local <strong>and</strong> global <strong>in</strong>equalities, though the first k<strong>in</strong>d of <strong>resistance</strong> is<br />
perhaps stronger. Through their trajectories of personal <strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> different issues<br />
they <strong>in</strong>terrogate the structures of caste, class <strong>and</strong> gender, implicitly <strong>and</strong> explicitly,<br />
unconsciously <strong>and</strong> consciously, partially or tangentially <strong>and</strong> wholeheartedly. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
women are different <strong>and</strong> similar, complicit <strong>in</strong> oppressions as well as mount<strong>in</strong>g frontal<br />
attacks aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>iquitous social structures, customs <strong>and</strong> laws. All of the women discussed<br />
do not fit <strong>in</strong>to the way th<strong>in</strong>gs are <strong>in</strong> post-colonial India, plagued by <strong>in</strong>digenous k<strong>in</strong>ds of<br />
<strong>in</strong>justice <strong>and</strong> neo-colonialism masquerad<strong>in</strong>g as global connectivity or globalization. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>sights of the Subaltern Studies Project are useful <strong>in</strong> underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g the complexity of<br />
their conditions, but not fully. We do not see a one to one correspondence between those<br />
<strong>in</strong>sights <strong>and</strong> the non-discursive <strong>in</strong>tuitions of the novelist, Roy. A thorough consideration<br />
of Roy‟s presentation of women <strong>in</strong> all her works, both fictional <strong>and</strong> non-fictional, <strong>in</strong><br />
t<strong>and</strong>em with the works of multiple authors from the Subaltern Studies Project <strong>and</strong> its<br />
admirers <strong>and</strong> detractors can fully or adequately throw light on the four women characters<br />
we have dealt with <strong>and</strong> the question of what Roy considers the proper way for the<br />
emancipation of post-colonial Indian women.<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
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Biographies<br />
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures <strong>and</strong> Societies<br />
ISSN No. 1948-1845 (Pr<strong>in</strong>t); 1948-1853 (Electronic)<br />
Golam Gaus Al-Quaderi is an associate professor at the Department of English,<br />
University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.<br />
Muhammad Saiful Islam is a lecturer <strong>in</strong> the Department of English, K<strong>in</strong>g Khalid<br />
University, Abha, K<strong>in</strong>gdom of Saudi Arabia<br />
Works Cited<br />
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<strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy: Critical perspectives. New Delhi, India: Pencraft International.<br />
Alam, Khurshid (2001). “Untouchables” <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs.5.6.2007. Retrieved<br />
from http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/post/<strong>in</strong>dia/roy/alum1.html.<br />
Bose, Br<strong>in</strong>da (2006). In desire <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> death: Eroticism as politics <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong><br />
God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs. In Murari Prasad (edited). <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy: Critical perspectives.<br />
New Delhi, India: Pencraft International.<br />
Dwivedi, O.P (2010). <strong>The</strong> Subaltern <strong>and</strong> the text: <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy‟s <strong>The</strong> God of Small<br />
Th<strong>in</strong>gs. Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 1(2), 387-394.<br />
Navarro-Tejero, Antonia (2006). Power Relationships <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs. In<br />
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International.<br />
Needham, Anuradha D<strong>in</strong>gwaney (2005). „<strong>The</strong> Small Voice of History‟ <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong><br />
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‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
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Prasad, Murari (2006). Introduction. In Murari Prasad (edited). <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy: Critical<br />
perspectives. New Delhi, India: Pencraft International.<br />
Rab<strong>in</strong>ow, Paul (Edited)(1991). <strong>The</strong> Foucault Reader. London, Pengu<strong>in</strong> Group.<br />
Roy, Amitabh (2005).<strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs : A novel of social commitment. New<br />
Delhi, India: Atlantic Publishers <strong>and</strong> Distributors.<br />
Roy, <strong>Arundhati</strong> (1997). <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs. New Delhi, India: IndiaInk.<br />
Roy, <strong>Arundhati</strong>(2009). <strong>The</strong> Shape of the Beast: conversations with <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy.New<br />
Delhi, India: Pengu<strong>in</strong> .<br />
Roy, B<strong>in</strong>ayak (2009). <strong>The</strong> Title of <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs: A subversive salvo. ANQ,<br />
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Endnotes.<br />
i “ ‘I feel’, says Guha, ‘that women’s voice once it is heard , will activate <strong>and</strong> make available other small<br />
voices as well’(1994:11)”(Anuradha D<strong>in</strong>gwaney Needham 376)<br />
‘Complicity <strong>and</strong> <strong>resistance</strong>: <strong>Women</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Arundhati</strong> Roy’s <strong>The</strong> God of Small Th<strong>in</strong>gs,’ Golam Gaus Al-<br />
Quaderi <strong>and</strong> Muhammad Saiful Islam<br />
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